SUGARCANE
A film by Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
2024, 107 minutes
2024, 107 minutes
No. 452
Documentary
Documentary
PRE-ORDER! Sugarcane is available for pre-order with a special 25% discount. Sale ends January 31, 2025. Title ships March 3, 2025. Discount applied at checkout.
Description
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, Sugarcane, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning.
In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.
Festivals
Winner, U.S. Documentary Directing Award, Sundance Film Festival
Winner, Official Competition Special Jury Prize, Seattle International Film Festival
Winner, Documentary Feature, Sarasota Film Festival
Official Selection, San Francisco International Film Festival
Official Selection, Sheffield International Documentary Festival
Reviews
“A MUST-SEE. STUNNING AND SOBERING. It’s immersive and incredibly beautiful, shot like poetry… And because Kassie and Noisecat narrow their focus to the stories of St. Joseph’s survivors and their descendants, it’s breathtaking when they widen out to remind us that these stories are not isolated – that people all over North America are living with the repercussions of truth suppressed and violence enacted in the name of love and faith.” - Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
"Sugarcane hits hardest when staying personal... So many documentaries dealing with crimes like these can be cold, clinical reporting assuming a tactful distance from the whole affair. Sugarcane, warm and sad, knows it all hits harder if we’re living there." -Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine
"The finesse and care with which Kassie and Noisecat unveil and explore the happenings and residual aftershocks of St. Joseph’s Mission bring the film to another level...Sugarcane is soul-shaking. It’s profoundly evocative, with spoken memories and moments of inability to muster the words gut-punching with equal measure." - Peyton Robinson, Rogerebert.com
"Demonstrating unparalleled humanity, and compassion for the affected First Nation communities in North America, the powerful documentary operates from a place of pure and total empathy.” - Valerie Complex, Deadline
“Quietly devastating…Sugarcane is the product of humane and insightful filmmakers who are determined to never let anyone forget, and put their moral outrage to exemplary good use.” - Joe Leydon, Variety
